Oscar-winning actress Patty Duke dies

New York, March 30 (IANS/EFE) US actress Patty Duke, winner of an Oscar in 1963 and star of a TV show that bore her name, died on Tuesday at a hospital near her home in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, her agent said. She was 69.

Mitchell Stubbs said on Twitter that the actress died from intestinal septicemia.

Anna Marie Duke, born in New York City in 1946, began acting at the age of seven under the guidance of husband-and-wife management team John and Ethel Ross, who changed her name to Patty.

At the age of 16, Duke won an Oscar for best supporting actress for her role in the movie “The Miracle Worker” to become the youngest actress at the time ever to be honoured with that prize.

She had previously acted on Broadway in the theatre version of that work, playing the same blind, deaf and dumb teenager.

Starting in 1963 she starred in her like-named television programme, which was cancelled after three seasons.

Among the honours she won were two Golden Globes and three Emmy Awards. Since 2004 her name has been immortalised on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

A singer and author as well as an actress, Patty Duke, who suffered from bipolar personality disorder, was married four times.

She is survived by husband Michael Pierce and son Sean Astin, whose father was her third spouse, actor John Astin.